Gut Reaction: Preseason Week 1 - Broncos @ 49ers

How so? Given that none of us—the organization, the players, the fans—can change the results of last year’s playoff loss, my definition of victory evolved once preseason began.

And once I saw Rahim Moore take the field tonight and play (even just a few snaps) with the ferocity I’d hoped to see from him, I knew he’d already won.

You see, you’re only defeated when you stop working, stop trying, stop competing, and stop improving—when you give up.

Rahim Moore is doing none of these things.

Now, let’s stop whining about last year and get this mother#$cker started, shall we?

The Positives

It appears as if the reports of Peyton Manning's increased arm strength are true. Of course, it’s hard to judge based on one drive. Stay tuned. Or arm wrestle Peyton Manning before the end of the week and report back to us.

I didn’t think he could do it, but Von Miller looks like he got bigger without sacrificing any of his flexibility or quickness. It got me pretty excited—not as excited as dropping E, but it was a close call.

Julius Thomas needs to stay injury free, but I like how he did more than simply make acrobatic catches tonight. He got separation, too. Did I mention his blocking has improved?

Is Duke Ihenacho for real? If so, I want him on the field—if not at safety, then at least let him play some nickel and dime.

Brock Osweiler still has some work to do, but he did manage to work through a progression or two and hang in the pocket and make some throws with a patchwork line. Finally, he changed the play at the line of scrimmage a number of times.

I have to say, tonight was the first time I uttered the name “Shaun Phillips” without punching a wall, kicking the dog, or urinating on the neighbor’s lawn (he’s a Chargers fan). If Von Miller gets suspended, the Broncos will be fine. Did you see Phillips’ ability to use his hands to create rushing space? The Broncos won’t lose Miller’s sacks as much as the sacks won’t seem as spectacular and will be spread around.

Kayvon Webster didn’t hurt himself with his interception tonight. The trouble (or great thing for Broncos fans) is that Omar Bolden played well, too.

Yes, C.J. Anderson was playing against scrubs, but wins the eye test—low to the ground, powerful, and with the ability to cut and fall forward.

Way to go, John Fox. You made the right call—whether the challenge held up or not.

The Negatives

Ronnie Hillman may be bigger, but he still doesn’t pass the eye test as someone who will ever run between the tackles with regularity. I expect Montee Ball will be the starter Week 1—assuming he picks up pass blocking. No, I’m not saying Hillman shouldn’t be in the mix.

I wasn’t particularly impressed with Manny Ramirez at center, but he’ll probably grow on me as he did last year--not like mold, but slow and hard to get rid of, like ass hair.

Philip Blake and Ryan Lilja—both looked like they were reaching.

As I wrote the last bullet, I just saw Vinston Painter get beat for a third—wait, make that a fourth time. In all cases, he spent more time bending at the waist than he did at the knees. There’s a reason he was drafted so late: he needs development.

I'll need to see more from Stewart Bradley, but his lateral movement is the question mark. He’s also going to struggle in coverage, just not as much as Joe Mays did. That aside, it's clear the guy reads his keys faster than the other Broncos linebackers in the running game. My guess is that they are prepping for Von’s departure with Irving at SAM and Bradley at Mike.

Candlestick Park blows. And now it’s time for someone to blow that house down.

I’ll withhold my judgment on Adam Gase until they start keeping track of the standings.

I had to listen to Big Al and D-Mac argue about the value of the running game using statistics while I was navigating traffic tonight. The traffic eventually dissipated, but the horror of hearing Big Al citing playoff teams and running yards per game will never go away.

One problem with the preseason? The regular season can’t come soon enough. It’s like being thirteen again—you can look at JC Penney catalogues and still have some fun, but you really need a Playboy to do some damage.

I’ve got nothing.

The Who The Heck Knows

It was hard to say much about the starters at the skill positions, so we’ll just assume Wes Welker is going to kick ass. The same goes with Champ Bailey, Chris Harris, Eric Decker, and Demaryius Thomas.

It’s one preseason game and the offensive line is far from solidified. Are you as concerned as the media wants you to be?

Just when I’d forgotten about Perrish Cox, I was reminded again that if you can play cornerback in this league, you get a second chance, no matter the infraction.

Peyton Manning in the pistol? It’s preseason, my friends. Are you not entertained?

It’s impossible to judge the play of Sly Williams tonight. The corpus of play is too small.

Did you miss Elvis Dumervil? It’s the fourth quarter, and I just remembered to ask the question, so you know where I stand.

Have you noticed how many times Matt Russell was mentioned this week?

What was that other dude’s name who is not Matt Russell again? That’s right, nobody cares.

Garland had not played when I was asked about him, but he did get into the game for three offensive snaps late.

Posted by Andrew Mason on 2013-08-14 16:07:03

Which has been our problem for over a decade. Being outmuscled at the LOS.

Let hope that they get better at it as the rookie gets experience and they others get to know each other. After all the me constant on the DL last night was Wolfe. Everyone else is new save the few plays I saw Vickerson get moved around like a rag doll.

Posted by Lonestar47 on 2013-08-09 16:44:47

I agree I'm not remotely impressed with many.

While I'm not sure about Lilja either manny is not the answer.

Posted by Lonestar47 on 2013-08-09 16:40:34

I agree with you about CJ. While their defense was playing 3rd 4th stringers IM not really sure that many of the OL we had in at the time should be in football at this level. painter is a project at best he was getting beat like a rented mule. By folks I have never heard of. Vallos was not much if at all better.

CJ was making most of those yard inspite of the OL and the blocking IMO. Where as L ball was going down like a ten dollar whore.

Posted by Lonestar47 on 2013-08-09 16:38:15

It was Lance ball

Posted by Rommel on 2013-08-09 16:36:49

Actually a pretty good pulling blocker the few times I could isolate on him. He had his man way out of the area of the tackle but perhaps he was in the are that the ball was going to go because the couple ofttimes I saw him the RB was getting killed at the LOS.

I did not watch and rewind last night as it was LATE. And I was distracted by the announcers. Since I did not get it live had to watch it at 11pm and I do not get the radio anoucers like many of you do when it is live anyway.

I would hope garland makes the PS as he certainly does not lack desire to play the game and I like his story.

Posted by Lonestar47 on 2013-08-09 16:33:35

There was a lot of POOR tackling. Since I have not yet committed the numbers of all players to memory I'll just say it was not just him. Seems that one of the LBs missed a a couple also and so did the DL 92, 90 IIRC. Unrien had one very late in the game that would have been a game ender.

As vaunted as miller is and supposedly fast he was out classed by their TE RB one at least one play. They just ran away from him.

Good call on CJ.

And holiday 1 little L he has balls that berried his big head in making judgement calls.

I do not care if he is the best ever I never want to see him catch one inside the ten again. NEVER. Sucker them into going left or right away from the ball and hope it bounces in the EZ opposed to being a GAME LOSER on a play like that again.

Super athlete but appears to be dumber than abox of rocks.

I doubt any coach has told him to field those withit a fair catch.

Posted by Lonestar47 on 2013-08-09 16:27:20

I thought it was earlier in the game on that long drive that ended in a failed 4th down conversion. You might be correct....now I gotta wait and check it out again tonight.

Posted by John Tomasik on 2013-08-09 15:00:10

The surprises for me were CJ Anderson, OZ, Duke and the new CB that picked off the pass (new escapes me)..

Other than those guys impressing me, the others were what was expected.

Omar with that tipped pass, great move BUT you had blown the coverage of your man. At least whatnot looked like without rerunning it..

Manny clearly is a better OG (that is not,saying that he is good there) than #3 on the depth chart at OC. KM got,blown up in pass protect on one play literally blown off his feet, into the air. So much for him making the team. Not at all impressed with Hillman between the tackles, and Ball, M to soon to tell (no fumbles) being the big plus there. Ball, L can go not at all impressed with his running he is a touch down runner, touch him and he is down. Unlike CJ think he is a keeper, almost looks for someone to hit and bounce off of. Third fourth maybe a fifth effort form this kid.

BTW I had to suffer though the love fest of the SFO Announcers who seem would rather praise their team than announce the game and give facts about who the tackler was if their team was on offense.

Let's hope next weeks game is better.

Posted by Lonestar47 on 2013-08-09 14:48:21

not sure if you knew this from your post but the ball trading carries w cj toward the end of the game was lance not montee.

Posted by pubkeeper on 2013-08-09 13:51:34

agree about Moore, he's manned up since January. big al made the observation and I agree, he hadn't dodged an interview since then and hasn't made excuses. it looks like he's using that play to motivate himself. good for him... and the Broncos.

Posted by pubkeeper on 2013-08-09 13:49:04

Yes, exactly right. Which exact guy does what can vary somewhat, but usually that's the way it comes together.

Posted by Ted Bartlett on 2013-08-09 12:27:59

Last year was a perfect storm of bad refereeing, bad luck, bad coaching, and underwhelming play. And, in that storm, Rahim Moore's end of game play was the baseball sized hailstone that landed on the hood of the car.

But, it's a new year......

Posted by magster on 2013-08-09 11:26:55

Bingo (typically...there are always variations)

Posted by sadaraine on 2013-08-09 10:46:03

Please speak more on point 8 from the negatives. I missed that segment. Perhaps write an article that relates to the subject spoken or link me to the article you've already written?

Posted by Martin Escoto on 2013-08-09 10:39:02

The only thing I've seen is Andrew Mason's tweet that he didn't think Garland played.

Posted by carsonic on 2013-08-09 10:33:32

Thanks for the great article pointing out all sorts of things I too green to notice but also I picked up on some nuances from the game that I wouldn't have before I started reading iaofm

Anyone blaming Moore for that loss needs their head examined. That loss was a team effort, and there were many areas where the Broncos were either making mistakes or failing to execute. Heck, if it wasn't for Trindon and the group that was on the field during returns, the score wouldn't have been that close.

Posted by John Tomasik on 2013-08-09 10:27:06

Sweet, thanks Ted.

So in a Cover 3 you have your free safety and two corners covering the deep thirds of the field, and then you bring your strong safety towards the line of scrimmage?

Posted by aLuffabo on 2013-08-09 10:25:26

Note that they tossed Bell in with the same group that Anderson was facing (after Anderson made some really good runs), and Bell went nowhere.

Posted by John Tomasik on 2013-08-09 10:21:21

It was fun watching the game. Kinda missed it. A few comments (again...it is the first pre-game of the season):

Neither front line wow'd me.

Krapperneck and the offense moved the ball with relative ease until a combo good stop and penalty pushed them back. I didn't see much pressure from the middle of the front line (yeah, I miss #92...and I noticed it the first drive), and they got pushed around on the run. Both Sly and Wolfe struggled to get off their blocks.

I'm not as knowledgeable about the new zone blocking, but either the RB's aren't recognizing lanes, or the line isn't providing them. Anderson was the only RB I saw running through tackles. Anderson on that 4th down seemed the only shot at getting the conversion...the other RB's showed no signs of being capable. Ball might end up being the #1, but not much last night showed me why he would be.

J. Thomas is big and athletic. His blocking is inconsistent.

Manning is Manning. DT is DT.

They should try Lilja with the #1's. I think Manram might be overwhelmed.

Ihatenachos was all over the place making tackles. Not sure whether he was in position to provide coverage.

Seemed to me that Bradley can't maintain cover on his man. Is #56 the answer?

Why did they keep playing #11? He was the guy who kept the Broncos close during the Ravens' game.

Osweiller looked better. No doubt.

Ok, fire away.

Posted by John Tomasik on 2013-08-09 10:17:32

What Cover 3 does is it allows a team to easily drop a safety into the box for an 8 man front, because his coverage responsibility will be a short zone anyway. You're correct that it puts 3 men deep against the long pass, but its main use is that you can use it to stack the box to defend the run.

The Broncos actually prefer to stick with Cover 1, as any team who could do so would. Against most teams last year, they succeeded just fine in stopping the run with 7 men, which makes a defense sounder on the back end.

Posted by Ted Bartlett on 2013-08-09 10:15:31

Dysert did look good. Poised, calm, effective. That play where he was surrounded by three guys, pulled up, and fired a little pass to the open man was textbook calm under pressure.

If he can continue to grow and look good in preseason games, we might be able to unload him for some solid ROI in the future.

Posted by aLuffabo on 2013-08-09 09:58:06

Interesting. I forgot Garland had been moved to offensive line. I would be curious to hear how that's going as well.

Posted by aLuffabo on 2013-08-09 09:48:07

I hope to goodness that Lilja takes over the center spot when the rest of the starter's return.

Malik Jackson always impresses me, always.

Posted by aLuffabo on 2013-08-09 09:46:57

Nice, I missed most of the game but liked that catch where he flared out to the flat, made that guy miss and burst forward for a first down. Dude just has gobs of athletic talent.

Posted by aLuffabo on 2013-08-09 09:45:34

Doesn't Cover 3 mean there are three guys (safety or corner) covering the back part of the field divided into thirds? It's a cover deep call, right? Not a run call?

Not refuting you, just curious?

Posted by aLuffabo on 2013-08-09 09:44:45

Only got to see the first Q last night so i'll be pumping quarters into the NFL video jukebox. But damn, good to have football again, even the preseason milquetoast variety!

Posted by broncosmontana on 2013-08-09 09:41:29

Yep, I still place the lion's share of blame on the meek game management from Fox for that game. We should have never been in that position for Moore to make that mistake in the first place.

Posted by aLuffabo on 2013-08-09 09:40:58

Personally I forgave Moore a long time ago, his play was not the only reason the Broncos lost that game. There was plenty of blame to go around for this whole team and coaching staff. Had other plays been made not to mention Fox and company going for the win instead playing it safe the whole game would have changed. I like the Duke hitting hard, competition is supposed to bring out the best now we have three more games to see it sort itself out! One last thing thank you to the football gods for PFM, GO BRONCOS

Posted by akatom3565 on 2013-08-09 09:39:55

Loved what I saw from El Duque (submitted for consideration as his nickname moving forward) and believe he'll be starting next to Rahim come week one.

You're 100000000% right on Rahim, too. The man who stood up and took his lumps in the locker room after the playoff loss and then throughout the off-season is the guy I want at Safety. Few people in this world have never failed at anything; fewer still have never failed and become an outrageous success. #TeamRahim

I have an uncomfortable relationship with Julius Thomas and his potential. Wow. If he can stay healthy, he will be a beast.

CJ Anderson looked good.

Ronnie Hillman didn't.

Montee Ball? Didn't see enough of a spark to say one way or the other. TJ is right about reading blocks and moving north-south; I'm worried about his speed in getting there.

Stew Beef was excellent against the run, a liability in coverage. I hope Irving is a little more balanced.

That's all I got. Cheers for the Gut Reaction, TJ.

Posted by booboodevo on 2013-08-09 09:31:36

By George, I think you're right. (D'oh!)

Posted by carsonic on 2013-08-09 09:18:39

I forgave Moore a long time ago. Fox, not yet.

Posted by Steven_Searls on 2013-08-09 09:00:59

By Katz, I think you mean Dysert. But point taken.

Posted by Russ on 2013-08-09 08:33:50

I'm with you on C.J. Anderson, and also since we signed him. Kid is quick and powerful, and Cecil Lammey said the other day that he's a lot faster than you'd think.I watched some of his highlights after we signed him and thought "Wow"He should be the 3rd back up, at least.

Posted by bradley on 2013-08-09 07:29:33

One positive that no one's mentioned yet is that Holliday (dammit auto-correct, he has 2 l's in his name!), despite lack of judgement in fielding the ball at the 1, didn't bobble a single ball tonight.

I also thought that Katz looked like a decent 3rd-stringer; his passes weren't right on the mark, but they got where they needed to go.

Super-impressed with (as Royalwithcheese would say) DUKE!!! and his nose for the ball.

Speaking of nose for the ball, how about those turnovers? I know a couple were due to bad play by the 49ers, but still, 4 is nothing to turn your nose up at. (OK, that's probably enough "nose" references.)

I picked C.J. Anderson to make the team (or PS) right after the draft. Allow me to pat myself on the back. (Of course, if he doesn't make the 53, he might not clear waivers after a night like last night.)

As are we all, I was disappointed with our O-line, and certainly can't wait to get some healthy starters in place.

On that same note, I don't really agree with TJ about M Ball either. But maybe it was the line's fault. We'll just have to see how the preseason plays out.

Some poor arm tackling - Omar Bolden, I'm looking at you.

I sure wish Prater was more consistent. He finished well, but that first kickoff was pretty dorky.

Posted by carsonic on 2013-08-09 07:05:39

I had to miss the game. Anyone notice Ben Garland? (63) Cecil Lammey said a couple weeks ago that, in one on ones, Malik Jackson was abusing Vinston Painter but couldn't do anything against Garland.

Posted by bradley on 2013-08-09 06:02:41

Sadly common. That's also why we try to work off of film - eliminates the problem, and when you give an opinion, it's yours.

I see you've been watching me at five a side football (soccer) recently then

Posted by Mike Birtwistle on 2013-08-09 03:24:46

That. And SF has one BA Oline. They maul people.

Posted by RyanHennigan on 2013-08-09 02:03:09

Love the Gut. Nice job TJ. Agree with most if not all.

Not much to say really. My concerns going into the game still exist but aren't able to be addressed (c, rb, mlb, k). SF is good.

Posted by Orange_and_Blue on 2013-08-09 01:44:20

-- iPad fail above. That's supposed to say: to end on a positive, Malik Jackson looked good out there. Stout against the run and some pass rush ability to boot.-- Oh, and even with the holding penalty: Manny in 2013 (I reserve the right to change my mind after next week's game).

Posted by Royalwithcheese on 2013-08-09 01:42:26

My initial thoughts from the game, the first time I've watched our boys in person in a decade:

-- DUKE!!!-- No, but seriously: DUKE!!!-- Seeing JT finally do it in a game was great.-- CJ Anderson looked the best running back on the roster (of course, the level of competition might've had something to do with that)-- Hillman still seems too wispy.-- I'm going to disagree with TJ on Montee. He looked slow to the hole and didn't really churn for extra yards. He looks out of shape to me, like he's carrying too much weight. Look at the pictures of him with TD from last week and tell me who's in better shape.-- Disappointed that Bradley got the start at MLB. If Irving can't grab the starting role at this point... Also, I might be wrong, but I counted three plays where Bradley was burned in pass coverage. His lateral agility, to use TJ's term, seems piss poor.-- o end on

Posted by Royalwithcheese on 2013-08-09 01:37:45

I was at the game tonight and some random lady saw me wearing my Broncos gear and high fived me. Turns out she was Julius Thomas' mom, I told her I was rooting for him to succeed. Cool story of the night.

Posted by Andy Park on 2013-08-09 01:20:30

Lilja will be running first unit and I believe he'll be an upgrade over Koppen last year.

Posted by Yahmule on 2013-08-09 01:05:23

I felt the same way listening to that conversation. He has a history of stealing opinions he uses on the show from a guy named Matt Waldman who creates rookie scouting reports. His arguments made for Lamar Miller and LeVeon Bell are copied almost word for word from Waldman's scouting reports.

I would be alright with this, but he doesn't cite his sources before he uses them...

Posted by Dubs on 2013-08-09 01:05:03

The whole second team offensive line looked awful.Though I think Lilja will eventually push Ramirez for first team center once he gets back into game shape.

Posted by Hank Mardukis on 2013-08-09 01:04:24

For those of you afraid of the way the 49ers ran on the Broncos on the first drive, I just want to remind you that the Broncos were strictly running Cover 1 and 2 man under to best evaluate the talent on the field within the defensive scheme. Man defense such as those are weak strategically in stopping in the run and the Broncos will definitely switch to a Cover 3 look if they are expecting a run to a designated strong side.

Posted by Dubs on 2013-08-09 01:02:01

Painter was getting used, but we knew he was raw and he was facing some NFL vets on the bubble right out of the gate. More disappointed to see Blake still look overmatched.

Posted by Yahmule on 2013-08-09 00:59:05

Oh, and to TJ's point about Al I agree wholeheartedly. For a man that spent so many years in the NFL it's amazing how little he knows about the game. I find most of his arguments completely insufferable.

Posted by Hank Mardukis on 2013-08-09 00:57:08

Thought Ihenacho and J. Thomas looked pretty good, especially Ihenacho. Painter got his doors blown off. With only one real series for the first team offense and defense there's not much there to analyze.

Posted by Hank Mardukis on 2013-08-09 00:54:34

CJ Anderson brings to mind Travis Henry, but with a brain and a moral compass.

Hillman is not going to be without his uses, but he still goes down too easily on first contact way too often. I was hoping not to see that as much this year.

Knonwshon looked a little rusty. He really got manhandled on one pass rush.

Montee looks a bit bigger than I expected him to be. I believe he'll keep improving with more repetitions.

Overall, I strongly believe this will turn out to be the best stable of running backs we've had since Clinton Portis was on the team.

Posted by Yahmule on 2013-08-09 00:53:52

I like what I saw from Duke, I hope he's legit. Oz looked like he didn't trust his line, and for good reason, they sucked. Made lemonier (who I like) look like an all pro. I look for Oz to be more comfortable next game and show us some actual improvements.